Police-nippers



(No Model.)

M. S. THOMAS.

POLICE NIPPEBS.

No. 446,616. Patented Feb. 17, 1891.

lrrnn States Patent rrrcn.

MERTON S. THOMAS, OF PULTENEY, l'lClV YORK.

POLICE= NIPPE'RS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 446,616, dated February17, 1891 Application filed December 3, 1390. Serial No. 378,435. (Nomodel.)

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, MERTON S. THOMAS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Pulteney, in the county of Steuben and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Police Nippers; andI do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to that class of devices known as police-nippersor shackles, and more particularly to that class of these devicesinwhich provision is made for the ready application of the nippers to aprisoners hand and immediately locking the same.

Heretofore it has been proposed to construct the handle portion of thenippers of two parts of like conton r, so pivotally arranged that whenclosed they form a complete handle by which the nippers are held in thehand of the officer; but this arrangementnecessitates a change in theposition of the hand in order to avoid being injured by the opening orclosing of the two-part handle, during which change the prisoner is veryapt to break loose and escape from the officer. It has also beenproposed to form the handle of two substan tially L-shaped parts, withthe lateral branches extending in opposite directions, a springplatebeing secured to one and designed to engage the other to hold the twoparts in their closed position. This arrangement, however, is very aptto catch the hand of the person using the nippers, either between thetwo overlapping parts of the handle or by the spring-plate.

The primary object of the present invention, therefore, is to overcomethese difficulties; and to this end, and to such others as the inventionmay pertain, it has the follow ing objects in view: to provide nipperswhere in the officer can have a firm grip on the handle and will nothave to change the posi tion of his hand, while the thumb is free to actand with full strength to open and close the nippers. ltmatters not whatpart of the "wrist the nippers come in contact with, the

officer can easily open and close and lock the nippers securely and withcase.

A further object is to provide a nipper of this character that will bemore convenient and more quickly applied than previousforms. In mynippers there is no sharp edge to come between the fingers of theofficer to cut them or to cramp the hand. They are simple, cheap, anddurable, and in practical use have proved most efficient.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter appear,and the novel features thereof will be specifically defined by theappended claims.

The novelty in the present instance resides in the peculiarities ofconstruction of the nippers, as will be more fully hereinafterdescribed, shown in the drawings, and then particularly pointed out inthe claims.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings,which, with the letters of reference marked thereon, form a part of thisspecification, and in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of myimproved nippers shown open in dotted lines and closed in full lines.Fig. 2 is aside view of the nippers open. Fig. 3 is a section throughthe nippers on the line 00 at of Fig. 2.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts throughout the severalviews.

Referring now to the details of the drawings by letter, A designateswhat 1 term the stationary part of the nippers, because in applying orremoving the nippers from the wrist this part thereof had or need haveno movement. It is formed with a nipper-jaw c1. of proper size, a shankb, and a hand-loop c. The shank is halved out, as shown at d, in a waycommon to this and analogous devices to form a portion of a hinge, thecorresponding part of the other part of the nippers being correspondingly reversely halved out, as shown at e. The shank at its junction withthe handloop is by this halving out formed with a shoulder f, againstwhich the shoulder g on the other part engages to limit its movement, aswill hereinafter appear. The other part B is formed with a nipper-jaw hand with a portion of a hand-loop 1?, which is substantially one-half aloop in form and also in thickness. The hand-loop c of the part A is V Sawn-MAD,

halved out for substantially one-half of its contour on one side and thepart hard-loop of the part B completes its contour when the same isclosed, as shown by full lines in Fig. 1. The part hand-loop of the partB is formed with a teat or projection j, which forms a thumb-piece,against which the officer presses his thumb to open the nipper-jaws whenhe desires to apply the same to the wrist of a prisoner. The hand loopof the part A is formed with a substantially semicircular finger-hold kfor the reception of the little finger of the officer.

D is a fiat spring-plate secured in any suitable manner to the outerface of the handloop of the part A, being fastened at the end nearestthe little finger-hold 7;, with its other end free and preferablyslightly turned up, as shown at Z, and arranged to engage the free endof the part hand-loop of the part B, being preferably provided with aprojection or catch on upon its under side, the inner face of which issquare and designed to engage a corresponding notch in the free end ofthe hand-loop of the part B, as shown.

The operation and manner of applying the nippers will be readilyunderstood. Normally they are closed, as shown by full lines in Fig. 1.\Vhen the oificer desires to apply them to the wrist of a prisoner, heplaces his little finger in the finger-hold 70, his other three fingersin the hand-loop of the part A, and with his thumb presses upon the teaton the hand-loop part of the portion B and forces it away, as indicatedby dotted lines in Fig. 1, and thus separates the nipper-jaws, which hethen places over the wrist of the prisoner, and then with his thumbpulls back the part hand-loop of the portion B and holds it in additionto its locking by the spring lockplate, which is automatic in itsaction. It will thus be seen that the hand of the officer is at alltimes firmly grasping the hand-loop ot the nippers and is not indangerof being injured by the opening or closing of the nippers.

hat I claim as new is 1. A police-nippers composed of the part A, withnipper-jaw shank and hand-loop with portion removed, and the part B,pivoted to the part A and formed with half hand-loop, also of halfthickness and arranged to complete the contour of the hand-loop of thepart- A, and a spring locking-plate on the handloop of the part A andarranged to engage the free end of the half-loop of the part B,substantially as specified.

2. The police-nippers described, composed of the part A, havingnipper-jaw, halved-out shank, and hand-loop with finger-hold, and uponone side of one half reduced in thickness substantially one-half, thepart B, having nipper-jaw, halved-out shank, and half hand-loop inthickness corresponding to the half thick part of the hand-loop ofthepart A and formed with teat to receive the thumb, and the springlocking-plate secured to the hand-loop of the part A and arranged to engage the free end of the loop portion of the part B, substantially asshown and described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signaturein presence of two witnesses.

MERTON S. THOMAS.

Witnesses:

J. H. McCoNNELL, Trros. J. WAesTAFF.

